St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-04-23

burning question in every considerable town
and camp in the Hills. The difficulties of
hauling and expense of freight to Omaha,
besides the fact that only small, rich part
OF the ore will bear these charges, stimu-
lates scheming for home reduction. But,
with all the talk, the only actual steps thus
far taken towards custom works is the pur-
chase by some miners of a little five-ton
smelter preparatory to setting it up at Ga
lena.
THE REAL OBSTACLE
to the realization of these projects is not much
talked of here: it is lack of t1uXing material
Last winter the Rapid City board of trade
sent Prof Carpenter through the Hills to
determine if there were sufficient lead, cop
per. iron or other fluX to supply large works
al that point. His report was of nature
that put damper on smelter projects there
from which they have not yet rallied. Ga
lena is the only camp that has enough lead
to run out its own ores, but it has little to
spare. Indeed, a smelter was built there
some months SINCE but it has not run in
long time. This advantage of Galena as to
smelling and shipment is giving decided
preference In the market to stocks of min
ing companies in that district: indeed, these
life as yet. The other districts in this sec
tion-Ruby Basin, Bald Mountain, ETC.
are rich and extensive, but refractory; while
the ores of carbonate stubbornly resist the
utmost efforts Of investigators and experts
to entirely extract the mineral. This is
one of the difficulties that ais Iron Hill
stock.
SUPPLY OF COPPER.
TNhara bo n of %La
before long, however. An advertisement
the prospectOrs a-going, and samples were
sent in that am told assay we'll. More
over, copper is actually being shipped out
of the hills at the present time; an ore rich
enough to justify the purchasers in paying
$50 per ton, t. o. b., and hauling it to Chi
cagO. This supply is located in the South
ern hills, seventy-ive miles hence towards
Sunrise.
TWO NEW ERAS.
Rail connection with Omaha smelters has
a new era. even under charges
that bar the bulk of the ore from market.
For the first time in our history it has been
feasible to work mines on leases for roy
atty. This has given impecunious owners
at once income and development, and
miners, with no capital but grub and Drawn,
quick and remunerative returns thereon.
The effect has been to greatly stimulate
and development of new prop
critics: to accumulate great piles of low
grade ores on the dumps, against tine time
when local smelters arise; and to boom
mining stocks otherwise worthless. And
this. Notwithstanding the railroad was
opened only last July, and shipments had
not fairly begun when winter shut down on
operations. Many companies are now
making preparations for shipments as soon
as the roads settle. This is to be an inn
portant factor in the coming seasons pros
perity. But the second and greatest new
era will dawn when home smelling shall
have unlocked all the ores in sight.
A SHELTER WITH HISTORY.
The little smelter that is to be set up at
Galena has history connected with it that
is an epitome of many undertakings in the
Hills. About twenty-five miles from Rapid
City two Irishmen named German have for
years been holding down and working with
their own hands group of mining claims,
which they believe to be of extraordinary
richneSs-one, two, three million dollars,
anywhere there or thereabove. So ''stuck
on their claims" are they that nobody can
buy or get all interest, in them. To negotiate
is to arouse their suspicious; to offer price
initiates their price; to accept their figures,
when they are so incautiOus as to make
any, is to cause retreat and new esti-
mate of the bonanza. Favorable assays
serve to eXaggerate their mania, Unfavor-
able ones must necessarily have been in
f1uenced by some one who has designs on
the property and so have the same effect as
the others. A distinguished expert told
your correspondent that he could not see
anything there that would pay we'll to
work. But about two years ago Southland
Homans-one of the Romans family, of in
surance and banking fame-got the Cor
mans into a
''soFT SNAP" CONTRACT.
He was to have one-thiId of the mines
for putting smeter there. Romans in
duced a man named Wright, from Missis-
sippi, to furnish the smelter and rich
relative from California to put up the rest
of the plant and the working capital. The
smelter was on the ground and the Cali
fornian in Rapid City, when the Germans
gigged and enjoined the party from proceed
ing further. The rich uncle would not in
vest in lawsuit with pistol accompani-
ment and drew out. Romans and Wright
palavered and waited until dead broke, and
the latter finally sold the smelter that
represented about SIS. 900 for enough to take
him back to Mississippi, he claiming that
himself and friends who had Endorsed and
put up for him were utterly ruined.
Romans. too. has left the country, broken
in health. fortune and spirits. His life here
has been a tragedy and a romance to make
an incredible plot including family twice
broken up and fortunes betrayed and
wrecked by friends most trusted. And the
two wild Irishmen sit on their rocks,
masters of the situation, such as it is.
HE DENIES IT.
Councilman Wells, OF Radid City, who
was accused by his colleague, Representa-
tive Stewart, of Hot Springs, of conspiring
with Gov. Church to defeat the appropria-
ton for soldiers home at Hot Springs, is
out with printed denial of the impeach-
ment. Wells makes pretty good case for
than he does for the gov
ernOr, when he tries to deny that the exec
utive influenced the action of the legsla-
ture. Perhaps the councilman was in en-
ste ignorance of the fact that his own pet
the school of mines bill, was all
and arranged beforehand between
the governor and Rapid City representa-
tives, as to amounts and last terms, before
it was put upon its passage for the legisla-
ture to ratfy. This exoneration of the
doughty governor from the credit of assum-
ing general and thorough direction of the
coordinate branch'' will raise a weird
L l.